NEARER GOAL

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLIV, Issue 20966, 19 February 1938, Page 6

NEARER GOAL

MAX SCHMELING HIS BOUT WITH THOMAS Joe Louis had better look after his crown, says an article in “The Ring.” The Brown Bomber when he tackles Max Schmeling in a return engagement in New York next June will have to be in better fighting trim than he was when he faced Bob Pastor and Tommy Farr, if he hopes to retain his world championship. And, if I might add, says the writer, he will have to be the socking, early round knock-out artist whom we praised so much three years ago, if the heavyweight title is to remain in the country.

That is what I foresee as a result of the tune-up battle which Schmeling fought with Harry Thomas in Madison Square Garden on the night of December 13, while a gathering of close on 17,000 persons, the largest indoor fight crowd in more than two years, watched the proceedings. It was a methodic, cool, calculating, sharpshooting Schmeling who demonstrated tha.t although Joe Louis is the world ranking fighter by virtue of his defeat of Jimmy Braddock, Herr Max still must be considered the outstanding contender. There are some who claim for him the honour of being the world’s greatest fighter but we will hold off on that until after he tackles Joe Louis again. If he can repeat next June his triumph of a year and a half ago, he will rate that distinction, but until then, let us be satisfied by stating that the German is a fighter of the highest degree. Schmeling, in his bout with Thomas, was not quite his remarkable self, primarily because of his long lay-off, but he did display enough to make his admirers feel that when he tackles Joe Louis next June, the German will be the first to regain a world heavyweight crown. He did not evade punches as easily In the Thomas go as he has in most of his other bouts. As a matter of record, Thomas hit Max three to one in the first four rounds, but his blows lacked the force of the German, who did far more damag.e Whether Schmeling could stand up against Louis under a rain of punches in the early rounds, such as Thomas delivered, is a matter of conjecture which cannot be answered at the moment. But it must be said of Max that as the fight progressed and he found the range he gave a beautiful exhibition of sidestepping and sharp hitting, the kind that wins bouts. He picked his shots like the sharp-shooting gunner that he is and wasted . few punches. The long Idleness dimmed his eyes only slightly—in the first few sessions —but he regained his keenness as the fight went ori. : The fault in Louis’s fighting, to which Schmeling has often called public attention, blinking and closing the eye as the punch comes forward, was in evidence in Schmeling’s case on several occasions in the Thomas mill. While others did not take note of it, Louis did. Aside from that Schmeling had few faults. He demonstrated that he has by far the best chance of any former heavyweight champion to regain the title. What I saw in the Thomas battle convinced me that the allpowerful right, the devastating punch that put Thomas down in the fatal eighth round before the referee wisely stopped the proceedings, is the punch that may prove too much for Louis. Despite the fact that while he was warming up and getting acquainted with the awkward style of his American opponent, Max was taking a number of hefty wallops and Thomas was holding his own for the first four rounds, at no time was the German in any danger. He had his wits about him, and joked and grinned every time that Thomas landed a punch that seemed to be effective. Thomas did as well as could be expected against a veteran like Schmeling. He really was no match for Schmeling for more than the first four rounds, in which he had a margin, for he wilted sadly thereafter when the telling right hand punches to the mouth that cut his lips began to take their toll. Thomas during those early rounds proved a dangerous fellow at times, but he lacked the punch.

When the bout was over bedlam broke loose. The crowd extremely pro-Schmeling, with thousands of Germans present who probably had never seen a bout of such importance, cheered the victor, and among that gathering of elated Germans was the Consul-General of New York. When the fight was over it was an equally elated Schmeling who posed for the photographers and raised his hand as a greeting to the throng that edged its way to the ringside. He was elated because he said that the manner in which he fought convinced him more than ever that he will be the first to regain the world heavyweight crown, and that he was extremely satisfied with his condition. He said that after two more fights he would be ready for Louis.

Louis, who watched every .move of Schmeling, expressed the opinion that. Thomas lacked a solid punch, and that when the time came the title would retaain in America.

HOBBIES OF THE GREAT

The recreations of well-known writers as revealed in “Who’s Who” are typical of those of the average man In the street—walking, the cine-, ma, and golf; while Philip Lindsay employs bls spare time studying English history, writing for and looking at films, watching cricket, and reading. Bernard Shaw announces that his recreations are “anything except sport.” Osbert Sitwell enjoys "entertaining the rich and charity generally.” His brother, Sacheverell, spends his time with “model aeroplanes, plats cover a wide field, from gardening, beloved of the genial Karel Capek, to Rafael Sabatini’s fishing and Compton Mackenzie’s gramophone. As might be expected, the tramppoet, W. H. Davies, enjoys himself most when walking, chiefly alone. The interests of David Low, the cartoonist, regionaux, improvisation, the bullring ” Hm-m! “Are you unmarried?” inquired the census taker. “Oh, dear, no,” answered the little lady, blushing to the roots or her hair. “I’ve never even been married!”